TED演讲:20岁光阴不再来(4)

As a culture, we have trivialized what is actually the defining¹ decade of adulthood².

作为一种文化，我们把实际上是成人期中最重要的一个十年列为不重要的东西。

Leonard Bernstein said that to achieve great things, you need a plan and not quite enough time. Isn't that true?

伦纳德·伯恩斯坦说过如果想办成大事，就需要一个计划和不足够的时间。这不对吗？

So what do you think happens when you pat a twentysomething on the head and you say,

所以说当你拍一个二十几岁的人的头然后说：

"You have 10 extra years to start your life"? Nothing happens.

“你还有额外的十年才开始生活”时你认为会发生什么？什么也不会发生。

You have robbed that person of his urgency and ambition, and absolutely nothing happens.

你剥夺了那个人的紧迫感以及志向，但是什么都没发生。

And then every day, smart, interesting twentysomethings like you or like your sons and daughters come into my office and say things like this:

然后每天就有像你们的儿子或者女儿一样既聪明又有趣的二十几岁的人，跑到我的办公室跟我说

"I know my boyfriend's no good for me, but this relationship doesn't count. I'm just killing³ time."

“我知道我的男朋友对我一点好处都没有，但这段感情不算数。我只是在消耗时间。”

Or they say, "Everybody says as long as I get started on a career by the time I'm 30, I'll be fine."

或者是“大家都说只要我在30岁之前开始我的职业就没问题。”这一类的话。

But then it starts to sound like this: "My 20s are almost over, and I have nothing to show for myself.

但后来他们就开始讲：“我的二十岁快结束了，但我没什么可以展现的。

I had a better résumé the day after I graduated from college."

我毕业那天最好写写自己的简历。”

And then it starts to sound like this: "Dating in my 20s was like musical chairs.

之后他们开始讲：“二十几岁时的约会就像玩抢座位游戏。

Everybody was running around and having fun, but then sometime around 30 it was like the music turned off and everybody started sitting down.

大家跑来跑去，乐在其中，但到30岁左右音乐就停掉了，大家一个接一个开始坐下。

I didn't want to be the only one left standing⁴ up,

我不想成为唯一一个站着的人，

so sometimes I think I married my husband because he was the closest chair to me at 30."

因此有时候我觉得我和我丈夫结婚的原因就是因为在我30岁时他是距我最近的‘椅子’。”

Where are the twentysomethings here? Do not do that.

这里的二十几岁的人在哪儿？别做这种事。

1 defining   

规定( define的现在分词 )； 使明确； 精确地解释； 画出…的线条

参考例句：

• You can customise the behavior of the Asynchronous Server and hence re-brand it by defining your own command set for invoking services. 通过定义自己调用服务的命令集，您可以定制自定义异步服务器的行为，通过为调用服务定义自己的命令集从而对它重新标记。
• This point can be put another way in defining poverty. 这一点还能从另一方面来加以说明以佐证贫困的涵义。 来自英汉非文学 - 新闻报道

2 adulthood   

n.成年，成人期

参考例句：

• Some infantile actions survive into adulthood.某些婴儿期的行为一直保持到成年期。
• Few people nowadays are able to maintain friendships into adulthood.如今很少有人能将友谊维持到成年。

3 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

4 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。